Hope Comes in Many Forms
by TransYaoiboy666
Summary: Naruto may be full of hope but can someone beat him to changing the world? Meet the number one candidate for the role, Sen Hatake. Follow his adventures through the shinobi world as he unknowingly changes everyone around him, but for the better?
1. A New Friend

"I thought I told you to Shut Up, loser." Sasuke said as Naruto shouted 'believe it!' for about the twentieth time that day.

"I think that both of you should shut up, at least before I get down there." said a childish voice. The trio on the ground looked up to see a young boy with light grey hair and Red-pink eyes standing on the telephone pole. He looked about 12 and wore a bright red fleece coat and tan cargo pants, his finger and toenails were painted black. Suddenly Kakashi appeared on the pole next to the boy in a swirl of leaves.

"Hey sorry I'm late. I was in a meeting," he said explaining his tardiness.

The boy jumped down from the pole, landing gracefully on the ground. Kakashi soon followed.

"Kakashi-sensei, who is this?"Naruto asked, slightly growling at the nameless boy.

"Well this is my son; Sen Hatake," Kakashi said introducing Sen to his young pupils.

"I'm pleased to meet dad's students. So you actually passed his test." Sen said as he fiddled with one of his long grey braids.

"Sen has been moved to our squad after an unfortunate accident with Gai-sensei." Kakashi sighed, standing up from his crouched position.

"So... how are you, Sasuke?" Sen said, quickly trying to change the subject. "I mean I haven't seen you since... you know... the... um... you know," he said awkwardly.

"Yeah... I know. I'm fine, how about you Sen?" Sasuke replied quietly.

"Hey, Sasuke... how do you know him?" Sakura asked possessively.

"We're cousins," Sasuke replied, looking at Sen.

"Oh... but you're Kakashi's kid,"Naruto said eyeing the cousins.

"Well... dad married into the Uchiha clan," Sen said in a Monotone.

"But, where's your mom?" Naruto and Sakura asked in unison.

"So... I'm gonna apply for the chunin exams with you guys?"Sen asked changing the subject.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see your jutsu." Sakura exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah and I can not wait to see yours," Sen replied looking at Sakura. As Kakashi had nothing more to say to his team he dismissed them.

Before he left he pulled Sen aside to explain a few things, "I want you to get to know them before the Chunin exams, I know you know Sasuke and that you are going to use that as your excuse. But I want you to get to know Sakura and Naruto. They are your new teammates too, and they deserve your attention too."

After his father said this Sen replied, "Do... do I have to tell them... Naruto and Sakura... do I have to tell them about the... you know..."

Kakashi cut him off by saying, "No, you don't have to tell them. But know that they will find out eventually. Gai is still recommending your old teammates." As Kakashi said this Sen nodded and went to catch up with his cousin and new teammates. When he found finally found the blond and rosette duo they were being confronted by a pair of Sauna-nin.

"Yo, What's up?" He said maintaining his stoic demeanour.

The taller of the pair began to explain, "So me and my sister here were just walking along, heading to register for the chunin exams, when this little kid comes running out of nowhere and bumps into me. I was just going to teach this kid a lesson." to emphasize his point the unintroduced nin lifted the frazzled kid higher into the air. Sen nodded and thought the situation out.

"As much as I understand your temper and need to teach this brat some manners, I am afraid I cannot allow you to harm civilian children, especially when said child is the grandson of the 3rd Hokage. And as much as I find the brat to be spoilt I must leave his punishment to be decided by his family. Now if you hand me the young boy I will gladly escort you and him to the Hokage tower." Sen reasoned and held his hand out to the duo.

After processing this the taller nin frowned and replied, "No, I don't care who the kid is. He needs to be taught a lesson."

After hearing this Sen sighed and got into an offensive stance and replied, "Then I will have to treat this little confrontation as a threat and attack, and mind you that I have no reason to fight if you do not initiate." At this, the Sauna-nin grimaced and dropped the kid and reached behind his back to grab the parcel strapped to it. Once he had assured that Konohamaru was far enough away from the new shinobi he removed a thin piece of wire from his pouch and threw it towards the guy and it wrapped itself tightly around the shinobi's wrist. Then Sen pulled the wire, hard, which in turn sent the shinobi into the air and into a tree about 50 meters away. He then skilfully untangled the wire from the boy's wrist and tucked it back into his pouch. "Now, Konohamaru; come with me. I need to take you back to the academy to see that you are properly punished for playing hokie and for disruption of the peace. Now come along." Sen said tiredly as he grabbed the young boy's collar and effortlessly hoisted him into the air.

"No!" the young boy shouted as he was carried back to the academy.

"And you two," Sen shouted turning around briefly, "Wait here, I'll be back in a few minutes. I need to get to know you." And with this, he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Sadly when Sen returned his two new teammates were nowhere to be found. After he had searched for them for about an hour, he decided to walk to the Uchiha estate to visit his mother's grave. When he arrived he found the gravesite to be vacant, as usual. He walked along the stone path plated in the middle of the gravesite. He walked in silence until he arrived at the 265th gravestone. The name Setsuko Uchiha-Hatake was printed there in the loopy curves of his aunt, Mikoto's handwriting. He sat down on the green patch of grass that surrounded the gravestone.

"Yo... mom... I'm... I'm gonna be a chunin soon. I'd like to think that you'd be proud of me... proud of how I'm gonna become a great shinobi just like you and dad... but... The thing is... I'm not proud of me. As crazy as it sounds... I fear what I could become... I don't wanna become like... like him. I don't... I don't wanna get so mad that it comes out again... I don't want Aki to get mad... as he did with the shinobi girl from Iwa... I'm sorry I didn't get to know you... I'm sorry that I killed you... dad and papa say it's not my fault... that you died... They say it's Danzo-teme's fault... for putting Aki inside me... but I..." Sen paused and took a deep breath, trying to stop the sobs rising in his throat, "I just know... I must've had something to do with it. If... I hadn't been born then you would still be alive... but... then dad wouldn't have papa... I guess it worked out... You would like papa... dad says that he's a lot like you... but... he isn't you... I know I never really got to know you... but I feel like I miss you..." Sen stopped as he began to fully sob. After a few minutes to compose himself and finished with, "Good-bye, mom...I love you... see you tomorrow." and with that he left, standing slowly and walking back to the apartment he shared with his two fathers.

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(Sen's POV)

I woke up around 4 am the next morning, quickly jumping into my regular routine. First I made breakfast, which was Tamagoyaki (rolled egg omelette) and Okayu (Rice porridge), papa's favourite. I made his favourite cause I knew he had to deal with all the genin applying for the chunin exams. After I sealed dad's and papa's portion I ate mine and started on all our bentos. First I made papa's, his consisted of sautéed enokitake with pork and rice on the side. After I finished his I worked on dad's. I made him his favourite, salt-broiled saury and carrots with rice. Once I had finished that I set to work on my own bento, some leftover Tamagoyaki and some onigiri with some extra pork inside. I also put some strawberries and blueberries in it, gotta have some fruit ya know. When I was finally done I grabbed my coat and sealed my bento into a scroll and put it into my pouch. After I quadruple checked the apartment windows and the stove. I finally left the apartment and set off on my way to the Uchiha memorial grounds to visit mom.

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(3rd Person POV)

Sasuke woke up at around 5:30 am from a nightmare. He tried to go back to sleep, but after a few minutes, he gave up trying and got dressed. He had an apple for breakfast(he was never much of a cook) and read over one of his technique scrolls. After about ten minutes he decided to take a walk to the pond he and Sen used to play by. After emerging from his house he heard a quiet voice coming from the memorial grounds; curious; he walked towards the voice and saw his cousin, Sen sitting about 10 meters away, at what Sasuke assumed was his mother's grave. Instead of calling out to the boy he walked in close enough to hear what Sen was saying. And what he heard made him stop and rethink what he was striving for.

"Yo, mom. I hope you are well and that everyone else is also well. I'm gonna start the chunin exams today with Sasuke. Yeah, I hope he does well too. I know he will become stronger than Itachi, but I hope he will realize what he did was... for the best of the village... The coupe would've destroyed Konoha. It was wrong of grandpa and the others to plan it, but it was also wrong of Danzo-teme to ask such a deed of Itachi. I hope that someday Sasuke will learn and understand that it wasn't Itachi's fault, but that both the Uchiha and Danzo-teme's fault. Oh... and mom don't worry, I'm taking good care of dad and papa wants to meet you soon. Don't worry mom, dad hasn't forgotten about you. He just... He visits you at the KIA stone. He still loves you. I'm sure papa loves you too. He leaves Katsudon for you sometimes, cause dad told him that it was your favourite. I have to go now, I need to go home and make bentos for my new teammates, though I don't know what Sakura likes, dad told me that Naruto likes ramen. I might even make enough to last us for a week, 'cause apparently, Naruto eats like a pig. Well good-bye, mom. I love you." Sen then left in a poof of smoke.

Sasuke just stood there in shock, 'Itachi was told... to... to... to kill everyone. No... that... can't... be... He murdered everyone! But... Sen... He never lies... and why would he... he's talking to his dead mother... He has no reason to lie...' Sasuke frantically looked around looking for something to ground him, he then noticed that there were hundreds, if not thousands of flower crowns lying on all the gravestones. Well all except one, this was the grave of Madara Uchiha, his and Sen's great(times like a thousand) grandfather.

"Madara," Sasuke said quietly as if the whole world was listening, "What could you have done to deserve being neglected by Sen, the sweetest boy in Konoha. He left flowers on the grave of Daisuke Uchiha, an infamous murderer, what could you have done to warrant this?" After a few minutes of just staring at the grave, he headed back to his house, the things that he had heard rattling around in his brain.


	2. Exam phase one

Sen sat on the edge of the bridge, reading a book waiting for his teammates to arrive. The book he was reading was by the same author who wrote his father's Icha Icha books, but surprisingly it wasn't perverted. The book followed the journey of a young man trying to discover his place in the ninja world, Sen quiet enjoyed it and was hoping the author would continue the series. But he seriously doubted this as there were copious amounts of Ica Icha books. But of course, he could hope. He looked up from his book when he heard someone cough beside him. When he turned his head he was greeted by a pair of coal black eyes that belonged to his cousin, Sasuke.

"Yo, Sasuke. How are you?" Sen greeted, placing a bookmark in his book and placing it into his pouch.

Sasuke shrugged and replied, "I'm ok. Didn't get much sleep last night-"

Sen cut him off by saying, "Nightmare" Sasuke nodded and leaned on the railing of the bridge. They sat there for about half an hour in peace, but that abruptly ended when Naruto came bounding onto the bridge.

"Hey Sasuke, Hey Sen." He yelled landing noisily in front of the duo.

Sasuke groaned and Sen barely offered a small, "Yo."

Naruto frowned at this and asked(shouted), "Hey Sen, what are you reading?"

Sen looked up and replied, "The journey of Katsu: A brave warrior." He then looked back to his book. Naruto sat down quietly for about point two seconds until he decided he was bored. Naruto decided to entertain himself in the most peace disrupting way he could, by playing a prank on Sen. Having never met him beyond the day before, Naruto had never been able to prank the young Hatake before today. Naruto thought for a while about what would really push the boy's buttons, then the idea dawned on him. He could take his book, that should rile the kid up. In one swift movement, Naruto grabbed the book out of Sen's hands and began to run off. And in less than a millisecond Naruto's plan was foiled. Faster than Naruto could think Sen had grabbed the book back and thrown Naruto into the river to teach him a lesson.

Just as this was taking place Sakura walked onto the bridge and beelined towards Sasuke all while shouting her catchphrase, "Sasuke!"And Sasuke expertly dodged the attempt at physical contact.

Sen greeted her with a small, "Yo," then dutifully returned to his book. Sakura gushed at this saying something along the lines of, 'Cool just like Sasuke.'

No one made any attempt to leave until Sen closed his book and sighed.

"Ok, let's go. I'm sure everyone's up and ready for a good old exam." Sen jumped off the railing and started walking in the direction of the testing facility. When they arrived they quickly ascended the stairs, moving upwards at a steady pace. Sen was walking quickly up the next set of stairs and realized his team was not behind him. He retraced his steps and found his team standing outside a door. "Guys, this is the second floor. We need to go up one more flight." Sen said when he suddenly came face to face with his old teammates, also trying to get into the room.

"Hello my dear friend Sen, how are you?" Rock Lee asked suddenly back on his feet.

"I... I... I'm good... Come on guys... one more floor..."Sen said grabbing Sasuke's hand and dragging him away from his old teammates.

Naruto looked back, confused. "Do you know those guys, Sen?" He asked, even more, confused when Sen abruptly stopped.

"We're here." He said as he opened the door leading to the examination room.

Naruto was about to ask his question again but was interrupted by Kiba pulling him into a headlock.

"Hey, Naruto! How ya been?" He asked completely overlooking Sen. Sen sighed in relief, and made his way towards the back of the room. But, sadly lady luck was not on his side when he coincidentally bumped into his former teammate; Neji Hyuga. And unfortunately, there was nowhere to hide.

"Hello, Sen." Neji greeted, walking closer to the pink-eyed boy.

Sen gulped and replied in a very uncharacteristically meek voice, "Yo... Neji... how have you been? Haven't seen you... in a while..." In all honesty, Sen hadn't seen his old teammates since the incident during the mission in Iwa.

"Yes, it has, I am doing well. Is there something wrong Sen? You seem to be nervous." Neji added, again stepping slightly closer to the slightly trembling boy.

Sen shook his head vigorously and replied, "No... everything's fine... I'm just... I'm sorry you had to see that side of me... I'm pretty sure I mentally scared Tenten. Is she okay?" Sen looked up abruptly when Neji placed his hand on Sen's shoulder.

" We know that wasn't you, it was Akihiro. You didn't mean to kill her, she just set you off. You did nothing wrong." Neji said in a calm and understanding voice.

It may have been the same things his dads had been saying but hear it from Neji, one of his only friends made him feel 100 times better about the whole thing.

He was about to thank Neji when he heard Naruto yell, "I'm the best shinobi here and I'm gonna become Hokage!" While most of the Konoha nin just sighed and brushed it off as a regular Naruto occurrence, most of the visiting nin glared at the upbeat boy. Sen cocked his head at the newly observed behaviour and decided that this must be a recurring behaviour on the blonde's part. After the outburst, the chatter in the room steadily rose to its original volume.

"Well, Neji, it has been nice talking with you. But I'd better go find Sasuke and my other teammates before the proctor arrives. And... thank you... for reassuring me." Sen said when he spotted Sasuke at the other end of the room. Neji nodded and offered him a small wave and headed towards his own teammates. Sen sighed in relief as he made his way back to his cousin. Sasuke greeted him with a small grunt, Sen returned the greeting by tilting his head and leaning against his younger cousin. Sasuke rolled his eyes in response to Sen's childish tendencies, and meanwhile, the plethora of Sasuke fangirls appeared to be foaming at the mouths; ready to maul Sen to death.

After another few minutes, the exam proctor came into the room, revealing himself to be the one and only Ibiki Morino. Sen smiled and quietly sat in the seat right next to Sasuke, still not noticing the 50 or so glares he was receiving. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he finally became aware of the mass of killing intent being sent his way. In his uncomfortable state, he shifted slightly closer to Sasuke. Before he could look up to see what was happening, his papa had called for the written exam. Sen looked down at the test and realized he had no clue what to do, his brain had decided to tap out during the most important test in his life. After thinking about this for another second, Sen had decided his anxiety was being stupid and unrealistic. He could take on a fully armed shinobi without even so much as flinching, but a written test is just too much for his brain to even fathom. He groaned out loud and received a concerned look from his father. They made eye contact for a few seconds and Sen nodded his head discreetly to indicate he was okay enough to continue. Ibiki gave him a sceptical look but allowed him to continue.

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(Sen's POV)

I've just been sitting here, just staring at the paper for the past half hour. Then it finally dawned on me, 'Maybe Aki could help me.'

'YES I'M SORRY TO SAY THIS BUT YOU'RE SLIPPING SCORPLING.' Aki said in my head.

'Well, you try thinking straight when taking a written teat your entire future as a shinobi is riding on. Not to mention your teammates too.' I thought back.

'OK, OK. JUST CALM DOWN AND LEAVE THE THE WRITING TO ME.' Aki finally said as he gave me the answers to the exam. And the real kicker was that after we finished I realized I knew all the stuff.

'You have got to be kidding me! I knew all of this!' I groaned in my head.

'HEY, IT'S OK KID. YOUR ANXIETY DOES WEIRD SHIT SOMETIMES. IT'S OK.' Aki said to me. After I had flipped my page over I heard 7 groans around me. I didn't even care at this point who it was, I was way too tired from all the stress of thinking. I sighed quietly, as to not disturb any of the test takers around me and put my head down on the desk. I supposed a few minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt seeing as there were about 2 hours left of time.

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(3rd Person POV) *and about 2 later*

Sen woke up to someone shaking him gently. He groaned and sat up, slowly rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Hey Sen, how ya feelin'? Papa said you looked kinda anxious during the test, and I wanted to make sure you were ok with you and the team moved on to phase 2." Kakashi asked his son, rubbing his back soothingly.

Sen processed for a second then nodded, replying, "Yeah dad. I'm fine, just a little test-taking anxiety, nothing too bad. I think I'm okay to move on to phase two with Sasuke and the others." Kakashi looked his son over once more and reluctantly agreed. Sen smiled as his father led him toward the next phase testing grounds to meet his group and take the next step to become a chunin.


	3. Exam phase two

(3rd Person POV)

When Sen and Kakashi arrived at training area 44 it was deserted aside from the rest of team 7. Sakura and Naruto both looked pissed while Sasuke just stood there presumably conversing with Ibiki. Sen ran up to Ibiki and hugged him, previous anxiety entirely forgotten.

"Oh, Sen. I'm glad to see you're awake. Any better?" Ibiki asked hugging his adopted son.

Sen nodded vigorously and replied, "Yeah papa. I feel a lot better." Kakashi smiled under his mask and gestured signalled to Ibiki, telling him it was time for them to leave the three twelve-year-olds and single 13-year-old to their own devices. Ibiki ruffled Sen's hair once more and left with his husband. Sen smiled again and waved to them as they left after they had disappeared from sight he turned back to his team to ask what the plan was.

"We're 20 minutes off track because you decided to take a nap!" Sakura yelled at Sen as he was about to ask what he had missed. Sen flinched at her tone and volume and hid awkwardly behind Sasuke.

"Hey leave him alone. He's here now and I don't think to force him into a panic attack will help us get any of our time back. Kami Sakura, it's only 20 minutes." Sasuke said bluntly. Sakura backed down and they entered training ground 44.

"Hey! Sasuke! I think I remember this place. It looks like the place we went looking for Itachi and got lost."Sen exclaimed, jumping onto an upturned rock. Sasuke flinched slightly and nodded, he was still unused to the mention of his older brother in such a casual sense.

"Yeah, it does. Hey, Sen." Sasuke said to get his older cousin's attention.

"Yeah, what is it Sasuke?" Sen asked looking down at the trio on the ground.

"Can you go and scout for the hideouts of some other teams. And remember we need an earth scroll okay?" Sasuke ordered. Sen smiled and nodded then took off into the forest. When Sen was out of sight Sasuke turned to his remaining teammates and sighed, "Sakura, I want to make something clear. Sen's anxiety is uncontrollable, he has no idea when it'll pop up or how bad it'll be. But I know that it mostly comes from his fear of disappointing others. If you ever talk down to him or say something that makes him think he let us down again, I will have to do something I won't soon regret. Got it?" Sasuke said in a hostile manner and turned to Naruto, "Naruto please make a fire with Sakura, in the meantime, I'm going to go find some food." He said as he walked further into the forest. Sakura and Naruto just stood there dumbfounded for a while then began scrambling to get the fire started.

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(Sen's POV)

I leaped through the trees scanning the ground for any sign of life, and as I did this I began to think to myself.

'I wonder why Sasuke asked me to do this? I bet he just needed to split us up to get the work done faster...wait...what am I supposed to be looking for again?'

'WELL SCORPLING IT'S GOOD FOR YOU THAT I LISTEN IN ON ALL OF YOUR CONVERSATIONS. YOUR COUSIN TOLD YOU TO LOOK FOR THE EARTH SCROLL. I HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE WHAT YOU WOULD DO WITHOUT ME.' Aki said in my head.

'I don't know what I would do without you ether, I would probably fall apart.' I thought back to him. I looked for about 10 more minutes before I was going to return to Sasuke and the others, but suddenly I heard what sounded like fighting. I stopped and hid behind the trunk of the tree I was standing in. I would've jumped into the fray but I knew I shouldn't jump in without a plan. When I heard the area under me I waited for a few minutes before jumping down to the ground to look around. The base of the tree that I was standing in a mere seconds ago was all cut up and had about 20 kunai buried into its bark, while the ground was covered in a massive amount of blood. After getting over the initial shock of the state of the area around me I decided to search the bodies lying motionless around the base of the tree, presumably dead. I approached the corpses slowly, this all seemed so familiar but I couldn't place the event. I had just begun to reach for the first corps when the realization hit me like a bag of bricks. The quick delivery, the silent kill, the copious amount of blood; I had seen this before. When my and my prior team had gone on that mission to Iwa ... when I ... when I had first killed.

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(Sen's POV)

"Sen! Sen! Pull back and let Gai-sensei take care of them!" TenTen shouted at me as the rouge shinobi began circling around the small team of Konoha nin.

"I... I ... I can't... I can't freaking think!" I shouted frantically. We were surrounded by 12 rouge jonin level shinobi.

'HEY, SCORPLING. CALM DOWN, CALM DOWN. WE'RE GONNA BE FINE.' I heard Aki say in my head. I shook my head and nodded vigorously and screamed, My mind was racing and I just couldn't think. The last thing I could remember was TenTen screaming before I blacked out. When I came to I was sitting on the ground with my team screaming at me. I opened my eyes and all I saw was red, just blood red. When I could finally focus I looked around at the faces of my teammates. Their faces were spattered with blood and gore, I looked around me in a wider range and all I could see for what seemed to be miles was torn apart bloody corpses. I took a step towards my team and I heard a loud squelch, I looked down slowly and stared in horror at the kidney I had just squashed. As I looked back up at my team I had noticed they were slowly backing away from me, and who could blame them I had just slaughtered a dozen rouge jonin level shinobi. I looked around me at the horrific carnage surrounding me and turned to run. As I ran I could hear them shouting for me to come back, but how could I? How could I subject them to such horror and danger again? What was I thinking to enter the academy in the first place? How could I subject the world to such danger? I'm so sorry mom! I'm so sorry!

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(Sen's POV)

I shivered at the memory, after that mission I only had one more field mission with team 9. And I killed again during that one. I breathed in deeply in order to calm myself, it was the past and I shouldn't blame myself. Just like dad says, I am only the container, I am not the beast itself.

'no offence Aki.' I told the scorpion in my head.

'DON'T WORRY SCORPLING, NONE TAKEN. NOW GET ON WITH THE SEARCH, I'M SURE SASUKE IS GETTING WORRIED.' Aki-Kin replied, reassuring me. I nodded in agreement and again inched closer to the bodies, I could still feel the heat radiating off of them. Darn these heat sensors to heck, I hate them sometimes.

'GOODNESS, SUCH STRONG LANGUAGE SCORPLING. MY WORD.' Aki teased me.

'Oh stick a sock in it Aki.' I shot back.

'OH, I MUST'VE STRUCK A NERVE'. Aki laughed. I mentally glared at him and he just laughed again. I took another deep breath and reached into the first corps' pocket. I felt around the pouch of fabric until I felt a scroll. I grabbed it and pulled it out if the pocket, it was an earth scroll, just the one we needed. I pocketed the scroll and was about to head back to the campsite when I saw what looked like Sasuke run past me. Without thinking I turned around to follow him.

"Hey, Sasuke! I got the scroll! Just like you asked!" I shouted at him. He stopped and turned to face me, which made me stop. He sure looked like Sasuke, but he wasn't. First his eyes were magenta, not black, then his hair was too long, being pulled up in a short ponytail and had a little patch of red in it.

'UM, SEN. HE'S FROM SAUNA. LOOK AT HIS PROTECTOR.' Aki said pointing out one of the most obvious differences that I should've noticed.

"Sasuke? I haven't heard that name since... who are you?" The Sasuke look-alike said to me sceptically.

" I'm Sen Hatake. And who might you be?" I asked in return.

"Sen Hatake... that sounds so familiar. I'm Matt Uchiha..." He answered. My eyes widened in shock.

"M...M...Matty...is...is that really you?" I asked, still trying to process the information. Could this really be...Matt?

He looked at me, confused and said, "Matty? The only person other than my siblings was... Sen... Sen is that really you?" I nodded vigorously and started to tear up, it really was Matt! He smiled widely and tackled me into a hug, and I hugged back. "You're alive?! How?! How are you alive?!" he screamed. I was crying profusely at this point.

" I wasn't at the compound when it happened, dad moved when grandpa wouldn't let papa live there with us. I'm sorry..." I replied quietly, not wanting him to hear me. Sasuke refused to even look at me for a month after the massacre when he found out. But Matt just shook his head and hugged me tighter. I began to cry harder and I buried my face in his hair, he was about the same height as Sasuke so I had about 7 cm on him.

"Wait, " he said pushing me away again, "does this mean that Sasuke is alive?!" I nodded as he cringed harshly.

"Matt? Are you okay?" I asked, steadying him as he swayed, almost toppling over.

"Yeah...I'm just...fi..."He started to say but passed out before he could finish. I caught him before he fell to the ground.

'COME ON SCORPLING WE SHOULD GET HIM BACK TO THE OTHERS AND GIVE SASUKE THE NEWS.' Aki said to me in a calming tone. My anxiety had begun to climb when I had stumbled upon the bodies, but now I was at breaking point. Sasuke and I weren't the only survivors and so many things were happening all a once.

'okay, Sen...it's okay...you're fine... I'm fine...' I thought to my self as I headed back to the campsite with Matt on my back. When I arrived I found a fire going and some fish were cooking over it. I chuckled at this and set Matt down by the fire. After I had gotten him settled I pulled out the scroll I had kept all our bentos in and layed them all on the ground surrounding the fire. I took the fish off the fire before they burned so that Matt could eat them. I was just settling down to wait for the others when I felt something poke my back, acting on instinct I grabbed the offender's hand and flipped them onto their back, efficiently knocking the wind out of them.

"Wow, Sen. It's okay. It's just Sasuke. Anxiety that bad huh." I heard the perpetrator gasp.

'Oops,' I thought, yanking my hand away.

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(3rd Person POV)

'Wow, Sen is jumpy. His anxiety must be acting up again.' Sasuke thought to himself as he got up from being thrown by his older cousin. He could tell that Sen was feeling terrible from the way his shoulders were slightly shaking to the way his eyes were frantically searching for anything that could be considered a threat. Sasuke sighed and approached Sen slowly, frowning when Sen flinched as he touched him. Sasuke sat on the ground just behind him and tried to remember what his uncle Kakashi had told him to do when Sen got like this. As he wracked his brain for a solution he heard a groan come from behind the fire. Sasuke looked in the direction of the noise and saw a boy around his age that was practically identical to him.

"You need to apply pressure on him." The boy said, stiffly sitting up.

"What?" Sasuke asked, not understanding what was just said to him.

"Apply pressure. Uhg. Just hug him tightly and it should help." The boy explained. Sasuke nodded and brought Sen into a tight hug, which Sen greatly relaxed into. Sasuke sighed in relief at this.

When Sen had calmed down enough Sasuke let go and turned to the mystery boy and asked, "Who are you? And how did you know how to help him?"

The boy chuckled and replied, "I'm not surprised you don't remember me that night was five years ago and you probably thought I died like everyone else, but no, I am very much alive, tomato." That last comment made Sasuke flinch.

"Wait...tomato...? The only one who knows about that was...Matt?" Sasuke pondered out loud.

Matt smirked and replied, "Right on the money, tomato. I see you're as helpless as usual."

Sasuke glared, "And I see you're as cocky as ever, Matt." Sasuke shot back.

The two of them laughed and looked at each other in a sort of nostalgic understanding. Sen looked up from his spot and looked at his surroundings in his somewhat calm state. "Hey Sen, you feeling any better?" Sasuke questioned the taller male, awkwardly hunkered down into his chest.

"Yeah, how are you feeling?" Matt asked in agreement.

"I feel a lot better, thanks. Sasuke, you'll never believe who I found!" Sen said excitedly.

"Let me guess was it Matt Uchiha? Our long lost, presumed to be dead cousin." Sasuke replied with mock surprise. Sen nodded and turned to Matt.

"Oh, you guys were talking. Sorry," he said quietly.

"Don't apologize. God, you're still apologizing for things you have no control over. How does tomato put up with you?" Matt sighed in irritation. He would never admit it but he had missed Sasuke's rotten ass.

"Hey, Sasuke! I made everyone bentos before the exams. And I got the earth scroll just like you asked." Sen said, returning to his cheery demeanour. Sasuke looked at him, surprised.

"What? I just asked you to scout for teams with earth scrolls. You didn't have to get one. Are you ok? You could've been hurt." Sasuke gasped and checked Sen for injuries.

Sen shook his head and replied, "No, I didn't have to fight anyone. I just found it on some corpses deeper in the forest." Matt sighed and bit into a cooked fish that Sen had set down beside him.

"Hey! That's our food!" Naruto and Sakura shouted in unison as they ran into the campsite.

"Naruto, Sakura. Sen made us bentos. He can have the fish." Sasuke said irritably at his team when they had finished shouting. Kami those two gave him one hell of a headache. The two looked around and found their bentos and sat down, still glaring at Matt.

"Well, hello. I'm Matt Uchiha. I'm Sen and Sasuke's, cousin." Matt introduced himself. Sakura blushed while Naruto just ate his delicious ramen. 'Well this is gonna be a long night.' Matt thought to himself as he took another bite of his fish.


End file.
